Did the guy still there ever confront them about the pay gap?

The "bad meat" excuse is a classic. The stall is just heat and moisture doing their thing, and no cut of beef ever signed up to be the scapegoat for a four hour cook. Next time tell him the thermometer is cheaper than a new packer.

Check your math on that 10 cleanings thing though. If a shop only does 10 a month that doesn't mean they're overcharging or their customers don't shoot. Plenty of markets are just small. A guy running a bench in a town of 20k people might do 8 cleanings a month and still be the only game around. That's not laziness on his end or price gouging, that's just population. The 500 number is solid work but using your volume as the bar for everyone else feels off. Some of us are busy, some of us are in slow towns, and neither one says much about skill.